Couple of the guys in the locker room said they were unhappy the team didn’t close when they felt they could have. Did you have the same concerns?
“Yeah, we certainly were more productive offensively in the first half than we were in the second. So, if that’s what they were referring to, yeah, you know, I think even in the second half there was one big play I was not happy with, but the rest I felt defensively the guys were pretty steady.”

Offensively, was that your decision to pull in the reins and get a little more conservative or is that just the game went? How did you go about the play calling in the second half?
“Mike’s (Sullivan) callings the plays, he and I talk. I don’t think it was overly conservative. I think some of the things that happened in the second half didn’t happen in the first half. You know, we didn’t get sacked in the first half, we didn’t get pressure, we didn’t have a holding penalty on a 30-whatever yard reception. You know, those are the things that when you make those plays you got a great run-pass ratio working and you’re feeling good. When you don’t make those plays, now it’s all of a sudden it’s boop – so whether it’s conservative or whether we didn’t make plays, I don’t know. One time, it doesn’t help, we didn’t help ourselves in the second half when we were backed up in our own territory. Traditionally, we’ll be a little more careful probably down there. Because the consequences are much more grating if something bad does happen.”

How did the decision go to have Lavonte David calls the plays?
“I think it worked out well. It was more strategic thing on who was going to be out there at what times, defensively you can only have one dot – well, you can only have one dot – but, we just felt that was best. But, either one of those guys, really it’s more than just those two, Adam (Hayward) can do it, there’s a bunch of guys that are comfortable doing it. Lavonte (David) did it all spring and then parts of camp, so we felt like he was ready to handle it. And Mason (Foster) really does a good job of it, so I think it’s good there’s a few guys that are comfortable doing it.”

How instrumental was (Gerald) McCoy in the overall defensive scheme?

“I think Gerald (McCoy) is real instrumental as he’s a disruptive force. Even when he doesn’t make the play, he’s got such good get-off and penetration ability that he makes plays bubble, he makes plays redirect.  I thought Roy (Miller) did that at times as well. I thought Roy did a good job at the nose making plays redirect. So many times in defensive football it’s dictating daylight. If you can dictate the daylight you direct the ball back where you want it to be, then you have your troops there. But if you don’t, then it goes shooting out the front side and I think that’s what defensive linemen – kind of the hidden things they do that maybe people don’t realize, you realize the sacks and you realize the TFLs (tackle for losses), you don’t always realize what a great job a guy did setting the edge of a defense.”

Doug Martin had about 28 touches yesterday, is that ideal? How did he handle it? Is it a feel-thing during the game?
“I do think it is a feel thing during the game.  I think there’s a couple things that come into play, what kind of flow he is in; you know, he is a very good receiver, so we are going to throw him the football. The 28 touches, like you did the math real quickly – that’s a lot of touches. Now, has it been done? Sure. Has it been done by rookies? It has been done by rookies, so it’s not unheard of. But we’ll go one game at a time and then you just got to keep an eye on him as the season rolls on – how’s he holding up? He’s a finely conditioned athlete. He’s very muscular, works out a lot which is going to help him I think handle some of the load, but at the end of the day, that’s a tall order, so we’ll see.”

You’ve got to be happy – those were tough yards. He had one break out run for 15 yards, but most of the yards were yards after contact?
“Yeah, and as we talked pregame – they (Carolina) have a very, very physical linebacker corps. So, I thought we did a good job of blocking the front, but some of those linebackers put some wallops on him. And he won some and he lost some. He ran a few of them over too though, so that was good to see.”

Is LeGarrette Blount hurt? Can you clarify?
“LeGarrette (Blount) could have gone back in the game, so let’s make that clear. I don’t know if we’re all certain on what’s ailing LeGarrette. He came out of the game and we thought it was his leg. Now we’re not sure. We’re just keeping an eye on him to make sure it’s nothing more serious. I think he’s OK, but I’ll let you know Wednesday. Tomorrow they’re off but he’ll be around and we’ll let you know if there’s any more to it.”

What’s the status of Carl Nicks toe?
“Carl Nicks toe, left big toe, huh? It’s a big toe right. He’s going to be all right.”

Talk about Mark Barron and how he played – that big pass break up at the end?
“That big pass break up at the end, that was, whoa, from my vantage point I didn’t think he was going to get there. But that was good stuff. I think Mark did a good job. He’s feeling his way, too. This was his first NFL game and I thought he did a real good job in his preparation which allowed him to go out there and play and I just think he’s going to get better and better and better as he gets more and more comfortable. He’s going to play faster. And I thought he played pretty fast yesterday. But I think will continue to play the game faster as he gets more and more comfortable with all the checks. He and Ronde are in charge of directing that whole back end, and Carolina does a lot of stuff. They’re not at easy team to defend, so, I thought for that opponent and his first game, it was pretty good.”

On second half offensive attack, are you comfortable saying ‘We’re going to protect this six point lead’”?
"I think it all just depends on the game, I really do. I look at each game as its own season, and I ask our team to do that. So let’s look at our opponent. Who are we trying to beat? And then you look at all three phases. How do we match up personnel wise? Ok, so we don’t match up well here, but we do match up here. There are advantages and disadvantages and then you put together a game plan accordingly. And I don’t think you put together a game plan with an offensive plan that’s independent of your defense or independent of your special teams. So we may throw the ball 60 times next week. And I do not have an aversion to, my thing is, what do we need to do to win? And then let’s put the plan together to do that. Now, we’re not always right. Our plan can be wrong or they have a say in it too. But that’s our idea. This week, that’s what I felt it was. This coming week, I haven’t studied it enough to know. I have as a little bit of an inkling because we offseason studied them, but I’m anxious to get back upstairs and unpeel onion and talk to the guys and see."

In a way, though, this was a blueprint for what you want to do?
“I think the ball security, absolutely. It doesn’t matter what plan we put together, 60 passes, zero passes, you better hold on to the football. Our line did have some good times, we also had some times where they TFL’d (tackle for loss) us. We had some good times where we TFL’d them on the front line and then there were times when they got downhill on us a little bit. There was give and take, that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t ever expect to just dominate every play. That will never happen. But the ball, no doubt. That is the beginning and the end, so – important.”